April 23rd, 20210DAMASCUS — Thanks to a global initiative, Syria received the first 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, U.N. officials announced on Thursday.
The doses were delivered through the global COVAX initiative, which has also delivered the badly needed vaccine to Yemen. Another 54,000 vaccines were delivered to the northwest...
April 18th, 20210DAMASCUS — Syria will hold a presidential election on May 26 that is virtually certain to return President Bashar al-Assad for a third term — an event that Washington and the opposition say is a farce designed to cement his autocratic rule.
Assad's family and his Baath party have ruled Syria for five decades with the help of the...
April 16th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanon's caretaker energy minister on Thursday blamed the country's fuel crisis on profiteers who smuggle gasoline into neighboring Syria.
At a Cabinet meeting to discuss the issue, Raymond Ghajar said the gap in gasoline prices between the two countries meant smugglers could make huge profits.
"The price of 20 liters of...
April 11th, 20210JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister pledged on Sunday to cooperate with the U.S. on Iran, voicing hope that Israeli security would be safeguarded under any renewed Iranian nuclear deal that Washington reaches.
“Israel views the United States as a full partner across all operational theatres, not the least Iran,” Benny Gantz...
March 15th, 20210ALEPPO — Mohammed Abu Rdan has known nothing but conflict throughout his short life.
Born in rural Aleppo in 2011 when peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government began, his childhood is anything but typical.
The protests quickly turned into a multi-sided conflict that has sucked in world powers,...
March 8th, 20210SYRIA — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, have tested positive for COVID-19 after showing minor symptoms, his office said on Monday.
The Syrian leader and his spouse, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, were in good health and would keep working in isolation at home, the statement...
February 26th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, President Biden ordered U.S. military airstrikes in eastern Syria, on the border with Iraq, against facilities belonging to what the Pentagon described as "Iran-backed militia", in a calibrated response to recent rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
The strikes appeared to be limited in scope,...
February 4th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, President Biden said he seeks to raise the annual refugee cap to 125,000, an increase that will take place in the beginning of October.
Biden made the announcement during a speech at the U.S. State Department.
Biden also said he would approve an executive order that would restore the U.S. refugee...
November 21st, 20200DAMASCUS – Syria’s longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad, died on Monday. He was 79.
Al-Moallem, who served as ambassador to Washington for nine years, starting in 1990 during...
October 8th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has gained a prominent endorsement from several diplomatic and policy experts on the Middle East.
A substantial list of former ambassadors to Middle East and North African (MENA) nations, foreign policy advisors and Middle East affairs experts have signed on to a letter,...
October 3rd, 20200DEARBORN — With the November election now a month away, U.S. Senator Gary Peters is in a race to maintain his seat for another term against conservative, Trump-backed John James.
Several polls, including RealClear and Reuters, puts Peters ahead of James. Peters has a history of direct engagement with the Arab American community,...
July 27th, 20200BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon reimposed severe COVID-19 restrictions on Monday for the next two weeks, shutting places of worship, cinemas, bars, nightclubs, sports events and popular markets, after a sharp rise in infections.
Shops, private companies, banks and educational institutions would be permitted to open, but only on Tuesdays...
July 18th, 20200ROCHESTER — Majd Faraj, a second-year medical student at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB), is leading a project to bring much needed medical supplies to Lebanon.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the Lebanese healthcare infrastructure this year. The problem has been compounded by an already...
July 17th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (I-Cascade Township), has announced that he will not be running for re-election to represent his district in the western part of Michigan in the U.S. Congress.
“I love representing our community in Congress. I always will. This is my choice, but I’m still going to miss it,” Amash...
June 17th, 20200
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. imposed its toughest sanctions ever on Wednesday, targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to choke off revenue for his government in a bid to force it back to U.N.-led negotiations and broker an end to the country’s nearly decade-long war.
The fresh round of...
February 21st, 20200ALEPPO — The Syrian army said on Monday it had taken full control of dozens of towns in Aleppo’s northwestern countryside and it would press on with its campaign to wipe out militant groups “wherever they are found."
The advances were made after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces drove insurgents from the M5 highway linking...
October 30th, 20190WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. counterterrorism official spoke at a House hearing on global national security threats on Wednesday to tell members of congress that a new leader of ISIS will eventually emerge, following the killing of Abu al-Baghdadi in last weekend’s raid.
AP reports that National Counterterrorism Center Acting...
October 3rd, 20190Although Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar still is home to thousands of Americans, the ability to carry out command and control functions from South Carolina means that the chances of a “Pearl Harbor” type of strike by the Iranians on the base is limited but not completely avoidable. It also perceived that it won’t take the U.S. seven...
August 26th, 20190BEIRUT - Syrian government forces opened a corridor on Thursday for people who want to leave insurgent territory in northwest Syria, where an army offensive has gained ground.
Tens of thousands of people have fled towards the Turkish border in recent days as air and ground attacks battered parts of Idlib and Hama in the northwest, the...
August 10th, 20190BEIRUT - On top of being refugees who have been displaced twice, Palestinian refugees who previously resided in Syria and fled the war to Lebanon have been rejected entry visas to visit Mecca for the holy pilgrimage.
Tens of Palestinian refugees with "stateless" passports from Syria have been denied the chance to perform Hajj by Saudi...
July 8th, 20190BERLIN - Germany on Monday rejected demands by the United States to deploy ground troops in Syria, a stance likely to anger President Trump who wants Chancellor Angela Merkel to commit to a bigger military role in the Middle East.
“When I say the government envisages sticking to the current measures in the anti-Islamic State...
April 23rd, 20190OCCUPIED GOLAN HEIGHTS - Israel said on Tuesday it would name a new community on the occupied Golan Heights after President Trump as an expression of gratitude for his recognition of its claim of sovereignty over the strategic plateau.
Israel captured the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it, against international law. The...
February 8th, 20190WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump said on Wednesday he expected a formal announcement as early as next week that the coalition fighting ISIS militants has reclaimed all of the territory previously held by the extremist group.
“Their land is gone. It’s a big factor — their land is gone,” Trump told foreign ministers and other...
January 31st, 20190WASHINGTON, DC - In a rebuke of President Trump, the Republican-led U.S. Senate advanced largely symbolic legislation on Thursday opposing plans for any abrupt withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
The Senate voted 68-23 in favor of a non-binding amendment, drafted by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying it...
January 28th, 20190TEHRAN - A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander on Monday threatened Israel with destruction if it attacks Iran, state media reported.
The comments by Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, came after an Israeli attack on Iranian targets in Syria last week - the...
January 26th, 20190BEIRUT — Hezbollah has “for years” been able to enter Israel, the Lebanese group’s leader said on Saturday, responding for the first time to Israel’s discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon.
Israel’s unveiling of what it called Hezbollah “attack tunnels” last month, and Lebanon’s accusation that...
December 21st, 20180TEL AVIV — Israel will escalate its attacks against Iranian-aligned forces in Syria after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Some Israeli officials have said President Trump’s move, announced on Wednesday, could help Iran by removing a U.S. garrison that...
December 21st, 20180WASHINGTON — President Trump has begun what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, declaring on Wednesday they have succeeded in their mission to defeat ISIS and were no longer needed in the country.
A decision to pull out completely, confirmed by U.S. officials, coincides with the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops finishing...
